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Thursday, 4 May 2017

The "strong and stable" leader has lost the plot

On Wednesday May 3rd 2017 the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom stood outside 10 Downing Street and spouted crackpot conspiracy theories.For the previous two weeks she repeated the phrases "strong and stable leadership" and "a good deal for Britain" in response to virtually every question she was asked (even "do you know what a mugwump is?"), so how on earth did it come to this?How did the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom come to make a speech that was more like an unhinged Daily Mail editorial than the carefully considered approach you'd expect from a strong and stable leader who is facing the most complex and risky set of negotiations in the history of their nation?How did our "strong and stable leader" lose the plot so badly that she decided to poison the well of EU negotiations before the talks have even properly started by spouting conspiracy theory gibberish about how there is an EU plot to harm the UK by making the negotiations fail?Anyone with a memory that functions well enough to recall the events of January will recall the way that Theresa May delighted the extreme-right propagandists at the Daily Mail, S*n and Express, but horrified the rest of Europe by announcing that the centrepiece of her long-awaited Brexit negotiating strategy as the threat to damage the EU by launching a mutually ruinous "no deal" Brexit and then turning the UK into a corporate tax haven.Ever since this point Theresa May has been slow-marching the UK towards this catastrophic "no deal" flounce scenario:When she ordered her party to remove the opposition amendment to the Article 50 bill aimed at obliging her government to at least begin considering how to guarantee the rights of EU citizens living in the UK, she sent Europe a very clear message that the lives of their citizens are just bargaining chips in the reckless game of brinkmanship she's playing.When she decided to imply that the UK would turn a blind eye to security threats against EU states if they didn't give the UK the kind of deal she wanted, this attempted blackmailwas another big step towards a "no deal" catastrophe.The disastrous dinner where Theresa May appeared delusional and completely unfamiliar with enormity of the task she's facing was another step towards the chasm.And now her decision to spout bonkers conspiracy theories about how the EU are plotting against her is yet another giant lurch towards the social and economic disaster that a Tory "no deal" strop would deliver.This bonkers conspiracy-laden drivel was clearly the kind of reaction to a German newspaper report that their business dinner had gone wrong you'd expect from an dangerously unstable narcissist, not a strong and stable leader.Instead of taking it on the chin and concentrating on the task at hand, Theresa May obviously spent the next few days after the leaked report brewing in silent rage, until she snapped and decided to "put the record straight" with a furious conspiracy laden tirade.

Surely we all know that spouting off when you're hot-headed with rage very rarely results in positive outcomes?

Surely we all know that when you're facing complex diplomatic negotiations you need to employ your poker face, not to spew a load of furious gibberish and demonstrate beyond doubt that you're completely rattled?Blabbering out a load of anti-EU conspiracy theories is clearly neither the behaviour of a "strong and stable leader" nor the behaviour of someone who is determined to get "a good deal for Britain".

In fact Theresa May's behaviour has once again proven to be the polar opposite of her promises. The worrying thing is that millions of people don't even seem capable of noticing how weak, unstable and directionless Theresa May's leadership is, even as she lurches from one ill-considered snap decision to the next, spreading instability and further poisoning relations with the EU with every step she takes.People may have thought I was exaggerating in March (before Theresa May's self-serving snap election decision was even announced) when I warned that her ill-considered tabloid style rhetoric was driving us towards the social and economic catastrophe of a "no deal" cliff edge, but how could anyone deny it now?How are so many people failing to see what's going on?How are people failing to understand that the Prime Minister of the UK spewing bonkers Daily Mail style anti-EU conspiracies is just about the worst way imaginable to secure "a good deal for Britain"?Why are so many political sleepwalkers willing to follow along behind a clearly weak and unstable leader as she slow-marches the nation towards the economic abyss of a "no deal" Brexit under the truly Orwellian banner of "strong and stable leadership"?

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